Through the ages flags have been used as attention-getting devices, advertising everything from national sovereignty to discounts on oil changes. While providing some visual information when simply suspended from a flag pole, flags are much more effective when waved manually or when tossed by the wind. As a blowing breeze is notoriously unreliable, people have often resorted to physically moving a flag pole to cause the flag to wave and thus more particularly demonstrate its message. Flag waving for extended periods soon becomes an arduous effort and paying people to wave a flag for you can become expensive. As a result, various systems have been developed to provide a waving flag image that do not require human muscle power.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,149,352, issued to Christiansen, is directed to a diver's flag made up of an inflated vertical standard or pole with an attached inflatable flag-type portion. The flag is made of plies of flexible plastic material which are sealed in order to form a closed space for air. A valve is attached to the plastic material and communicates with the internal air space in order to allow for inflation of the device. The plies are configured in order to provide a vertical post or buoy portion and a flag portion which extends at right angles from the top of the post or buoy. The flag portion includes an air column which is in communication with the interior of post so that column may be inflated causing the flag to extend directly outwardly of the posts and ensure its visibility.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,106, issued to Shich is directed to an inflatable flag buoy workable in both the daytime and at night. The buoy includes an integral inflatable air chamber generally divided into a seat portion, a pole portion, and a flag portion. The flag portion extends outwardly from the pole portion to complete the flag structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,642,022, issued to Groh is directed to a sign that utilizes inflatable hollow tubes to form individual alpha numeric figures in order to provide a sign that is lighter in weight than the weight of the air it displaces. The sign has the characteristics of a flag and may be attached to a vertical member such as a flag pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,328, issued to Pettit disclose a flag waving apparatus in which the vertical pole portion, attached to a drive arrangement with a motor that provides a rotational oscillation to the flag.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0178997, published for Tsui-Hua is directed to the structure of a flag elevating/descending device. The device includes a rotating tube which rotates about elevating/descending tube which allows the flag to rotate when the wind blows without having the flag wind around the flag pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,580 issued to Serrone, is directed to a flag waving device wherein the waving condition of rotation of the flag about the vertical standard is produced by mechanical means rather than by the effects of air currents.
U.S. Pat. No. D530,756, issued to Greenwald, is directed to a novelty noise maker incorporating an inflated stick and flag. This Design Patent is a flag device has both an inflatable staff and pennant.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a flag waving device that does not require human muscle power input in the absence of wind. It is a further objective to provide such a device that will garner substantial notice for its message through rapid and irregular movements that are representative of a wind-tossed flag. It is a still further objective of the invention to provide a device that can vary the rate and characteristics of the flag waving. It is yet a further objective to provide a device that is simple to operate and inexpensive to produce. Finally, it is an objective of the present invention to provide such a device that is durable attractive and long-lasting.
While some of the objectives of the present invention are disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.